The Real Terrorists in This Country

This report and video will scare the shit out of you. The Guardian (uk) continues its excellent series of reports on the ugly racism in our country. The skinheads, the neo-nazis, The Order, Aryan Nation, the KKK, these are the people Sarah Palin is inciting when she accuses Barack Obama of palling around with terrorists. These whackjobs are the real terrorists. And they make no bones about it. Watch the video.

Guardian (uk):
Fourteen Words that spell racism
The prospect of an African-American president is bringing white supremacist subculture in the US out of the shadows

Guardian (uk): Video: 'You hear them say Obama will be assassinated'

McCain-Palin Rallies: Document the Atrocities

Pottsville, Pennsylvania yesterday:



Video by Keystone Progress.

(POTTSVILLE, PA)—In what has become a regular occurrence, dozens of supporters of Senator John McCain shouted racist and hate-filled speech at about 100 demonstrators yesterday in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

One of the McCain supporters was caught on video shouting "Bomb Obama!" repeatedly. When asked what he meant, he said "Get rid of him. I've had a number of people in the... when he gets in the White House..."

He then formed a gun with his hand and made a shooting sound.

The incident was reported immediately to Pottsville Police Captain Richard Wojciechowsky, who said it did not sound serious.

The video later was shown to the Secret Service.

Yesterday’s video, and similar videos from McCain and Palin rallies around Pennsylvania, were shot and produced by Keystone Progress. Keystone Progress is a multi-issue progressive advocacy organization that combines cutting edge online organizing and communications with rapid and hard-hitting earned media strategies.

McCain-Palin Rallies: Document the Atrocities

Wow.

Denver, Colorado, October 24, 2008:



Kids pretending to be monkeys, calling Obama a monkey, Obama wears a turban, is a Muslim, a socialist, a communist. Your modern Republican Party.

McCain-Palin Rallies: Document the Atrocities

Report by Al Jazeera television on a Sarah Palin rally in Ohio.

John McCain says he's proud of the people who attend their rallies. Proud of this group? Sheesh.

Here's a compilation of some of the worst of the McCain-Palin idiots:

McCain-Palin Rallies: Document the Atrocities

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, October 11, 2008:

Mucho Poll Candy

dailykos: ------ AVALANCHE !!! ----- --- By 3 to 1 Margin --- (Now /w Mega Eye Candy)

Photos of the debate and from the campaign trail, and many screengrabs of the cable polls, all of which showed Obama wiped the floor with Senator Angry.

Why John McCain Lost the Debate

48 second version:



ANGRY! ANGRY! ANGRY!

McCain's Mob: Inciting Hate on the Campaign Trail

Excellent video from Brave New Films, showing the McCain/Palin campaign for what it really is: a hate crime in the making.

McCain-Palin Rallies: Document the Atrocities

Another video of the racist at a McCain rally in Bethlehem, PA, holding an Obama monkey, this one from the line waiting to go in:



hat tip to this diary at dailykos.

More of The Strongsville, Ohio McCain-Palin Rally

Part 2 of McCain-Palin supporters at a rally in Strongsville, Ohio. Includes a woman whose child says of Barack Obama "you need gloves to touch him".

McCain Tangled In His Own Web

John McCain (and his running mate) spent the last week stirring up the crowds into a frenzy of anger and hate against Barack Obama. McCain stood silent as crowds cried out "terrorist" and "traitor" while he was speaking. He is running nothing but negative ads claiming that Obama associates with terrorists.

But then prominent Republicans began to criticize McCain, and Palin, and in a feeble attempt to save his reputation he told some poor woman that Obama is not an Arab. (See the video below for the media interview with the poor dotty woman, who is convinced that Obama is a dangerous Arab -- because she read it at the library.) And now the media is acting as though something has changed, as though McCain has repented. The negative ads are still on the air. His contemptible running mate is still whipping up the hate.

John McCain has fallen, and he can't get up.

Boston Globe: Supporters jeer as McCain calls Obama 'a decent person'
Promises civility after days of harsh attacks on rival

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy: October 10, 2008

Hang your head, Herbert Hoover

The man who prosecuted William Ayers 40 years ago writes to the New York Times decrying any effort to link Ayers to Obama, and pointing out that the case against Ayers was dismissed because Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell broke the law investigating the case.

Who's the real radical extremist? Sarah Palin and her whackadoodle Alaskan Independence Party pals. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calls AIP "The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel." And she's an ignoramous who doesn't know anything about anything, even energy; yesterday she couldn't answer a basic question about Alaskan oil.. And doesn't that make John McCain look even more out-of-touch and foolish for saying she's the nation's top energy expert? Maybe if she were competing against kindergartners.

From the hubris file: McCain/Palin campaign issue a report declaring that Sarah Palin is innocent of the Troopergate charges. Well, all righty then!

Washington Post documents more angry crowd behavior at McCain/Palin events.

Freaking out about the economy? My third favorite economist (sorry Bonddad, Atrios and Krugman have you beat) sez We WILL GET THROUGH This Financial Crisis. If we have the right leadership (cough, Obama, cough). George W. Bush's economic policies have led to the worst year in the stock market since 1932. Heckuva job, Buckfush!

Our next President bought 30 minutes of prime time for Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. Major economic address, I'd imagine.

Another McCain-:Palin Crowd Video

These videos are really stunning. I forget how narrow-minded many people are until I seem them all gathered together. My favorite epithet hurled at Obama: "European socialist!" Take that!

Bethlehem, PA, October 8, 2008:

Temper, Temper

And read this story about John McCain blowing his top at the gambling table when someone other gambler dares to ask him to take his hands off the edge of the table. "Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?"

Michael Kinsley, The Daily Beast: At the Craps Tables With John McCain
How the Senator Lost it at a Puerto Rican Casino

John McCain's Losing Pisses Me Off Express

Angry, angry, angry:



McCain laughably claims that Obama gets touchy or angry when his credentials or policies are questioned, but of course the person who really does that is Ragin' John McCain. Just read this editorial by one of the editors of the Des Moines Register, who sat in on John McCain's clenched-jaw performance last week:

Basu: Is McCain too thin-skinned for presidency?

John McCain is angry.

You can feel it in the clenched muscles in his throat, the narrowing of his eyes, the controlled tone with which he handles a question he doesn't like, as if struggling to contain something that might spill out. We've seen that body language on TV. But around a Des Moines Register table Tuesday, the anger and tension were palpable. And unsettling.

McCain's volatility has been written and whispered about by staff and Senate colleagues: the mercurial temper, the quixotic outbursts of reproach, then jocularity. But those alleged episodes were behind the scenes. The combative, prickly McCain we saw was seeking the Register's endorsement. He already got it in the caucuses.

He took frequent offense at questions, characterizing them as personal viewpoints of the questioners rather than legitimate topics. True, he was asked some tough, pointed questions about his running mate and his honesty. But America is having those discussions, and you'd expect he'd be ready, not defensive. It takes a thick skin to be president.

McCain says he is angry because "people are angry." But his behavior suggests it's more than that. Maybe it's because his poll numbers are falling, his running mate is being ridiculed and his attempt to play fixer on the bailout failed to launch. Or maybe, a more worrisome prospect, this is the real McCain - who can't deal with stressful situations without feeling attacked, who lashes out when he feels threatened.

Angry John

Couldn't get on the interwebs for most of the day -- I think my crappy Verizon modem is near the end of its useful life.

So, here's my debate story. I listened to the middle third of the debate in the car on the way home from my class, watched the end on TV, then saw the economic part when it reran on C-Span a little later.

Listening in the car I was struck first by how old McCain sounded on the radio, his S's sibilantly extended, almost shushing each S sound. Like his dentures were floating around in his mouth. Second, he was so angry towards Obama. He kept saying "What Senator Obama doesn't understand" to start his arguments, spitting out each word with disgust. But both McCain and Obama stated their positions clearly and I didn't feel either made any huge mistakes or gaffes.

Obama was his usual scholarly, measured, rational self. Other than the "You were wrong" series he directed at McCain's predictions about the Iraq war in 2003, he was very even and level, but in full command of the facts and details of every issue. Presidential.

In the car I heard the debate as fairly even. But when I watched it on TV and put together McCain's angry voice with his rigid body language and his refusal to look at Obama, I thought this gave Obama the upper hand. McCain's anger seemed out of place. Just like his saying "What Senator Obama doesn't understand" seemed very out of place. It was very clear that Obama did understand the issues involved, so McCain's saying he didn't understand didn't seem right. He was angry about something, but it wasn't clear to me -- or to the audience -- what McCain was so angry about.

I used to have a problem questioning witnesses that I thought were liars, because I'd jump all over the witness before the jury knew anything about them. The anger I felt was my conclusion from what I knew about that witness. I learned from many excellent teachers that I had to allow the jury to form their own conclusions -- by showing them the facts about the witness -- rather than show my conclusions which made no sense to the jury who knew nothing about the person.

Rather than come to the jury with my conclusion (Liar!), I had to show them the facts and let the jury decide the witness was lying. You could always tell when the conclusion had been reached. Someone in the box would snicker at a ludicrous answer, or raise an eyebrow. You could feel people in the jury box looking at you, leaning towards you, telegraphing to you: Go for it. Get him. And then you could get angry. Get arch. Let out the sarcasm. Let him have it. But until that point, you had to be polite. Excruciatingly polite.

Most of the undecided voter panels who watched the debates gave the advantage to Obama. I think this is why. No one likes angry people. Undecided people are people who don't really know anything about the issues at this point anyway -- if they did they'd have already picked a candidate -- so they're going to be much more swayed by the mannerisms of the candidates.

So why was McCain so angry? Partly it's just his personality. This is the guy who told that nasty joke about Chelsea Clinton, has said nasty things about his own wife, and more. But I think there's more to it than that.

Two theories from the 'net. One, McCain doesn't like Obama because Obama introduced ethics legislation two years ago & Mr. Reformer McCain was none too happy about that. Read this exchange of letters from February 2006.

Second, and I think this one is more plausible, is what happened at the White House on Thursday. Check out this passage from the Washington Post article today summarizing the bailout meeting at the White House:

Pelosi said Obama would speak for the Democrats. Though later he would pepper Paulson with questions, according to a Republican in the room, his initial point was brief: "We've got to get something done."

Bush turned to McCain, who joked, "The longer I am around here, the more I respect seniority." McCain then turned to Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to speak first.

Boehner was blunt. The plan Paulson laid out would not win the support of the vast majority of House Republicans. It had been improved on the edges, with an oversight board and caps on the compensation of participating executives. But it had to be changed at the core. He did not mention the insurance alternative, but Democrats did. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, pressed Boehner hard, asking him if he really intended to scrap the deal and start again.

No, Boehner replied, he just wanted his members to have a voice. Obama then jumped in to turn the question on his rival: "What do you think of the [insurance] plan, John?" he asked repeatedly. McCain did not answer.

One Republican in the room said it was clear that the Democrats came into the meeting with a "game plan" aimed at forcing McCain to choose between the administration and House Republicans. "They had taken McCain's request for a meeting and trumped it," said this source.

Congressional aides from both parties were standing in the lobby of the West Wing, unaware of the discord inside the Cabinet room, when McCain emerged alone, shook the hands of the Marines at the door and left. The aides were baffled. The plan had been for a bipartisan appearance before the media, featuring McCain, Obama and at least a firm statement in favor of intervention. Now, one of the leading men was gone.

I can see this infuriating McCain. McCain the gambler went all in by "suspending" his campaign and going to Washington. Obama called his bluff and made him show his cards.

That's where "What. Senator. Obama. Doesn't. Understand." came from. Pure anger. McCain played the big bluff and got called on it.